THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603070147
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
IF THERE'S WRESTLING, they will come.
And last weekend they did. Nearly 4,000 fans packed into the Oscar Smith gym for the finals of the Group AAA state tournament.
``Tidewater is a hot bed for wrestling,'' Oscar Smith athletic director Bill Meyers said. ``This is where the majority of better wrestlers are coming from and people are coming to see them.
``With it being local they're coming for two reasons. One to see the wrestling and two, to see the facilities that Oscar Smith has. They want to see how you can put four mats in one gym and still be able to function.''
Oscar Smith put on a show for all ages - but this one much better than a three-ring circus.
And the finale couldn't have been more exciting.
Great Bridge rolled to its sixth straight team title and Hampton Roads claimed eight individual titles.
Carl Perry, the state's winningest wrestler, won his second straight title and ended his career with his 90th consecutive victory.
``This is definitely the sweetest win,'' said Perry, who graciously signed autographs for his young fans after defeating Woodbridge's Jimmy Dutrow by technical fall. ``It's more exciting when you get another one under your belt. And it was my last high school match. The fans made it more exciting. These people have all been behind me for four years. It's been a lot of fun.''
Parking was the only thing that wasn't fun at the finals.
Cars lined the Oscar Smith parking lot two hours before the championship round was slated to begin.
Meyers said that drivers were then directed to Crestwood Middle School and shuttled to Oscar Smith.
``We've had a full house both years that we've had the tournament,'' Meyers said.
And so did the city of Chesapeake.
``I can't tell you for sure because I never left,'' Meyers said, ``but they say anywhere you went in Greenbrier, you saw wrestlers. (The tournament) put some dollars in the economy in Chesapeake. They all had to eat. They all had to put gas in their cars and they all had to stay in motels.''
And where will they stay next year?
Meyers and Chesapeake wrestling fans hope the state tournament will return.
``If they tell me we need it,'' Meyers said, ``we'll take it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by HUY NGUYEN
Carl Perry of Great Bridge celebrates his state championship with a
victory over Jimmy Dutrow.
Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Matt Viola, left, of Western Branch won his match with Winston
Escalante of Tallwood.
BY THE NUMBERS
2 - Number of times Carl Perry has won a state title and Western
Branch's Sean Sanderlin and Churchland's Orlando Morton have been
state runners-up.
6 - Number of state titles won by Great Bridge
8 - Number of motels in the Greenbrier area filled by wrestling
fans
11 - Number of championship matches that featured Southeastern
District wrestlers
75 - Number of points separating Great Bridge from its nearest
competitor for the team title
90 - Number of consecutive wins for Great Bridge's Carl Perry
171 - Only weight class to feature two Southeastern District
wrestlers
215 - Only weight class that didn't have a South Hampton Roads
representative
4,000 - Number of fans estimated to have attended
KEYWORDS: HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING by CNB